Neoliberal urbanism in the Colombian Caribbean. The Great Malecón of the Magdalena River in Barranquilla
The city of Barranquilla in the Colombian Caribbean, during the last decade, seems to have entered wholly into the logic and repertoires of neoliberal urbanism. The last city governments have promoted renovation interventions to generate urban land and develop real estate projects (housing, commerce, entertainment) involving several of the country's largest construction companies. Those interventions are inspired by a dual narrative, on the one hand, to make the city more competitive and attractive to visitors and investors and, on the other, to regain the city's relationship with the Magdalena River. Among these projects, the most outstanding is the Gran Malecón del Río Magdalena. Both for its specific characteristics and its scale and management forms, this operation is part of what is known as Great Urban Projects (GPU). However, the conditions of its implementation reveal a situated process in spatial and political terms. On the other hand, along with the official narrative of the city's transformation, competitive and projecting outward, alternative history is constructed according to which these urban operations are mere strategies of real estate speculation or an agenda tailored to the interests of the political and economic elites of the region. In this sense, the purpose of the communication is to analyze the GPU of the Great Malecón del Río in terms of governance repertoires that support its development, public-private partnerships, planning tools, and land management policy applied as well as the spatial transformations generated.
Mots clés : Large Urban Development Projects|Urban governance|Land management|Barranquilla
A104051ID